I am amazed at the number who seem to look at the rev limiter as some sort of bragging point. I have always looked at it as sort of a guard rail. Hitting a guard rail does less damage than going over the cliff but you have already screwed up if you do hit it. There are several here from whom I'd never want to buy any of their used vehicles. There is a reason race engines are re-built with so few miles on them and the wear and tear from high rpm contributes to that need.

 

I agree it isn't desirable to hit it. And doing it often or sustained isn't good either.

However the comparison to race engines isn't fair since they live their life at high rpm in their powerband and are tuned to the hairy edge. A conservative redline on a motor nowhere near 100hp/liter is not a big deal to wind it out once in a while.

 

I don't think I've ever bumped it. Like others - I usually shift around 3000. I have seen 4000 or 4500 during high speed passing when dropping a gear. Not scared of hurting anything by bumping the rev limiter (occasionally), its there to keep you from doing any damage. Just no need to get up that high.
jt

 

yes...esp on the FXDF. 08 RK is geared way higher and it has the increased limit download, so I hit it less often now, but it's there....not hurting anything, it's a "soft" limiter and just slows you down, not cutting all spark off. Big difference.

 

isnt that what a rice rocket is for. im kinda scrachin my head on the harley thing though. long term id say its not a good thing. 2 cylinder big bore engines r torque monsters. thats why u shift early in the rpm range but to each his own

 

Not a bragging point at all, but also not a big deal given how the ECM works.

 

The first time I did wind out 1st gear on my 103, I hit the limiter. now I know how fast this motor revs, doubt I will ever hit it again, unless like some others have said by accident as when riding with others and were having too much fun. Is that not what its for anyway.

 

Its there so you won't hurt the engine.

 

I'd say it is high horsepower rather than high rpm than destroys the engine, containing the explosive pulses. If you spun an engine from an external source you're not going to do any damage as long as it was lubed.

I'd say far more "damage" was done more widely by lugging the engine at too low rpms when you can hear the drive chain slapping around and the engine chug. You're not going to stretch your con rods.

Yes, an engine which has done 100,000 miles at 3,000 rpm has spun as much as an engine which has done 50,000 miles at 6,000 rpm but you're never going to do that. It's just about having the facility to do so for that 1 in 100 event when you need to, and hitting an artificial wall might even be dangerous.

I figured a lot on Harleys is dumbed down and where they chose to place the rev limiter reflects that ... to protect it from inexperienced or insensitive riders who would over rev, and themselves from being sued, rather than engineering threats.

Get the download or buy the unit.

 

Race engines are torn down, inspected, parts replaced as necessary in large part because there is no money in not coming in first. Whether something breaks or just doesn't competitively produce power, the result is the same-not finishing in the money. All I said was the the high rpm CONTRIBUTES to that need. It is a fact of physics that the forces on anything moving change with the SQUARE of the change in velocity. Everything moving in reciprocating engine have forces applied to them and even the non-moving parts must absorb some of that energy. At 6000 rpm the parts are moving twice as fast as they are at 3000 rpm so they are receiving 4 times the force applied.

Have you ever considered the force on the rotor with the magnets flying around at 6000 rpm (or more if you have bumped up your limiter)? Might the rotor slowly stretch and increase the gap between the magnets and stator reducing alternator capacity? Thought about the rotor disintegrating? I doubt the primary case would contain the shrapnel. What sort of force is exerted on the pistons starting from zero and going to full velocity and back to zero twice for each revolution? The top end of the engine is producing heat twice as often but the cooling capacity is unchanged.

Sure, they are designed to absorb those forces once in a while, but doing that often, as the OP and a few others suggested, is quite punishing on a street engine. I never considered a former rental machine as an almost new, discounted purchase being a questionable investment until I began reading about the guys bumping the rev limiter on machines they rented or even test rode. Now with my eyes a bit more open, I am more cautious when considering a purchase.